Former Baltimore County schools superintendent S. Dallas Dance has been indicted on four counts of perjury, State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt announced Tuesday.

Dance, 37, allegedly lied on his financial disclosures in 2012, 2013 and 2015, falsely claiming he had no sources of outside income when he in fact owned a consulting firm and was personally paid by several firms, including one that had a no-bid contract with the school system. The indictment was returned by a grand jury in Baltimore County.

"Parents of Baltimore County Public [Schools] students should be able to trust that their Superintendent of Schools is carrying out his duties, honestly, with transparency and in the best interests of the students and the schools," Davitt said in a statement. "Any violation of that trust is intolerable."

Dance, who now lives in Glen Allen, Virginia, is set for arraignment on Feb. 12 in circuit court, according to online court records.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, a Dance ally during his time in the county, released a one-line statement in which he called the allegations, if true, "not only extremely disappointing but inexcusable."

Interim Superintendent Verletta White said in a statement that officials were "surprised and saddened" by the charges and stressed that there were no accusations of wrongdoing by anybody now working for the school system, including her.

“I have full confidence in the integrity of our staff and organization as a whole," she said. "We will stay focused and continue to work diligently to provide the best education possible for our more than 113,000 students.”

School board member Ann Miller, an outspoken critic of Dance, said in an email that she was sad, but not shocked.

"There were enough questions over the past five years to prompt due diligence," Miller said. "Unfortunately, the Board failed to act accordingly every step of the way."

She called for the a state audit to review possible waste, fraud and abuse before the county's next superintendent takes office.

On Wednesday, Miller talked to Phil Yacuboski:

The case doesn't currently appear in online court records. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

Dallas Dance abruptly announced his resignation just before the end of last school year, in the first year of his second contract, with three years to go. Controversy over possible ethics violations related to his outside consulting dogged him early in his tenure, which began in 2012. The county school board and Dance agreed to change his contract to bar him from doing outside consulting work.

White was also the subject of an ethical complaint for omitting money she was paid as a consultant for Chicago-based Education Research & Development Institute. Dance also consulted for ERDI, but didn't report that income on school system forms in 2014 and 2015, The Baltimore Sun reported.

From July through December of 2012, Dance negotiated and, that December, signed a no-bid contract with the now-defunct SUPES Academy while Dance was also working for SUPES and related company Synesi Associates. On his financial disclosure form for the same year, filed under oath, Dance allegedly lied when he said he had no interest in any companies that year, and had no outside income when he owned Deliberate Excellence Consulting and was personally paid $500 by SUPES and $13,500 by Synesi.

The following year, Dance was allegedly paid $72,000 by his consulting firm for consulting services rendered to Synesi, the City of Providence Public Schools and Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Education Services. The second count of perjury alleges that in August of 2016, he amended his 2013 financial disclosure, stating under oath that he earned no income from Deliberate Excellence Consulting that year.

However, the third count alleges, he continued to own that consulting firm and personally made $12,000 from other entities, but reported no business ownership and no outside income on his 2015 disclosure. The following year, he amended his financial disclosure for 2015 by saying he earned nothing from Deliberate Excellence when he allegedly received about $47,000 for services rendered.

Since leaving Baltimore County, Dance has been a full-time consultant for systems including Richmond Public Schools. WTRV-TV reports some school board members and parents raised questions when he was brought on at a cost of $25,000. His name was floated as a possible candidate to become the next superintendent there. The district later selected former District of Columbia schools official Jason Kamras.

"As the governor has made very clear, corruption and the lack of accountability in our school systems will not be tolerated," said Shareese Churchill, a spokeswoman for Gov. Larry Hogan, pointing to Hogan's proposal this year to create a state education watchdog. "Our school systems and superintendents are entrusted with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and Maryland citizens, especially our parents and students, expect and deserve much better from their leaders."

Abby Beytin, the president of the 9,000-member Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said word of Dance's indictment is just getting out to the rank-and-file members.

"Of course, we're all disappointed. If it is indeed true, that's not what we expect from our high supervisors. They are supposed to be above reproach," Beytin said.

Dance, who recently took a job with a Florida-based consulting company, has not responded to the allegations.

Robert Lang and WBAL-TV11 education reporter Tim Tooten contributed to this report.